Advocates want to tweak Vermont bill on public records, open meetings

MONTPELIER — Lawmakers want to tweak Vermont’s open meeting and public records regulations, but some say the changes don’t do enough to increase governmental transparency.

The Senate has advanced a bill, H.910, that addresses issues such as the definition of a public meeting, response times for record requests, and repeal of exemptions to public records law.

Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland, said officials in the Secretary of State’s office and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns “field hundreds of calls” annually from residents with questions about open meetings and public records.

“Several provisions of this bill attempt to address some of the frequently occurring questions and some potential areas of confusion and concern surrounding these laws,” Collamore said.

But open-government advocates had been pushing for more than clarifications. Read more…